February 1st: Green & Black's White Chocolate

Kcal 573 Fat 36.6g Carbs 53.5g (per 100.0g)

REVIEW-REVISITED - 04/09/2010

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm a bit of stubborn person when it comes to forming an opinion. Generally if I form an opinion on something, I stick with it! Even I however couldn't ignore the amount of e-mails I received along the lines of "Jim you are wrong about Green & Black's White Chocolate, it's a lot better than you say it is" (actual quote!). As you will see in my previous review below, the last time I tried the bar I acknowledged the fact it had promise, but I thought it could have been even better. After receiving what felt like the 100th e-mail telling me to give it another try - I did just that!

Unlike the rest of the Green & Black's range this bar hasn't changed at all in terms of it's wrapper or presentation in the last year - this was all down to a retest of the taste.

Well what can I say!? After sampling a good deal of the 100.0g bar I'm willing to admit that I thought a better of it. The milk based undertones of what I percieved originally were maintained, however both the cream and vanilla elements came across as much more pronounced in the taste, with both having far longer sustained flavour longevity. The vanilla pod pieces no longer felt rough in the texture, with the chocolate melt feeling so much smoother and almost butter like. Compared to what I percieved last time this chocolate taste so much more satisfying and richer - it was almost likea completely different product.

Overall this Green & Black's White Chocolate was well worthy of a higher score than I gave it last time. I don't think I have got many of my reviews wrong down the years, but having tested this one I'm happy I have revisited to give it due credit. This is a fantastic white chocolate that needs to be tried by anyone that considers themselves a white chocolate fan. Would I still prefer to have a Nestle Milkybar!? Err no thanks!

8.6 out of 10

ORIGINAL REVIEW - 01/02/2008

Kcal 202 Fat 12.8g Carbs 18.7g

Green & Black's is range of chocolate bars owned by Cadbury. The idea of the range is that they are supposed to offer consumers a more prestigous chocolate option in the same places of distribution that you can buy any mass consumer chocolate product. This 35.0g bar cost me a pretty pricey £0.80, which is verging on double what you pay for something like a Cadbury Dream or Nestle Milkybar. On the wrapper the bar came described simply as 'white chocolate with Madagascan vanilla.

Presentation wise it thought the bar was nice. I like the cream colour wrapper, and I liked the autheticity of the specs of vanilla within the chocolate.

Moving onto the taste I think it can be best described as quite weak with a mild offering of vanilla. The chocolate avoided being cheap and sickly tasting like the Cadbury Dream, however I think there was room for greater flavour generation. One thing that did spoil the experience for me somewhat were the small bits of vanilla pod which could be felt in the melt of the chocolate which created a somewhat uncomfortable texture.

Overall white chocolate isn't something I would consider myself very knowleadgble about, but I would say this was of a fair to decent standard. Despite having a pretty pleasant vanilla hinted milky taste, the flavours didn't have great longevity and thus didn't create the impression they could of done had they been stronger. Given the price I'm not sure I would consistently pay pay double the price of a Milkybar if I fancied a white chocolate.